WIZARD DUEL (SNEAK PREVIEW)
For a computer gamer, there are certain perks to living in Silicon Valley.
Not only do most national software retailers have stores here, but several game
developers also have their headquarters right here within easy driving
distance. When Karl Buiter invited me to go visit him at Tsunami Productions in
Redwood City and take a sneak peek at the new game they were working on, I
eagerly accepted.
Tsunami Productions is a game development company founded by Joe Ybarra. To
anyone who follows the computer gaming industry, Joe Ybarra requires no
introduction. He was the co-founder of the hugely successful Electronic Arts
and was personally responsible for producing a large number of best selling
games.
When asked why he founded Tsunami Productions, Joe replied that he had always
wanted to be involved in a hands-on environment in the game design end of the
business. Tsunami will develop complex games with depth in story telling,
strategies and simulations and will not be limited by the confines of specific
genres. Initially Tsunami will develop games for the MS-DOS and SNES platforms,
with other 16-bit cartridge systems and CD-ROM as potential possibilities.
Helping Joe in his efforts are Karl Buiter, who has several successful
role-playing games such as SENTINEL WORLDS 1 and HARD NOVA to his credit, and
Mike Moore, who produced CIRCUIT'S EDGE for the Infocom label and was the
designer and producer of the very popular Activision solitaire game SHANGHAI
II. There are also several programmers and graphics artists, all working
together on Tsunami's first product. Judging from what I was shown that day,
this is a group of considerable talent, and Tsunami Productions will be a force
to be reckoned with in the game design business.
Tsunami's first game, WIZARD DUEL (working title), is the brain child of
Joe Ybarra, who got the inspiration from an Avalon Hill board game titled
WAR OF THE WIZARDS. In the computer game, the player has to enter six
uniquely different arenas, or realms, and defeat the evil wizards and their
minions that dwell in them in order to restore peace in the magic world.
In order to succeed in defeating the evil wizards, the player must learn
how to mix magical potions in order to cast various magic spells. There are
five kinds of ingredients found in each potion. The actual ingredients and the
amounts you use in mixing the potion will control the various properties of the
resulting spell ranging from the type of spell it will cast to its duration,
effective radius and intensity, etc. A significant part of the game (and fun)
is going to the laboratory to experiment with various potion formulas and
fine-tune the recipes of your favorite spells. As Mike explained, "It's like a
giant chemistry set without the mess."
To gather clues and ingredients, the player has to make frequent trips in
the real world ("the mundane world," as it's known in the game). Famous
locations such as the Stonehenge and the Sphinx appear as digitized scans of
real photos. There are plenty of Non-Playing Characters (NPCs) for you to
meet and interact with. I was surprised to see that NPC portraits were also
digitized scans. And I was even more surprised when Karl told me, after a loud
chuckle, that the portraits were actually hand-drawn paintings. They were that
good!
Each arena/realm has its own unique terrain and characteristics, some of which
will even affect your selection of magic spells. For example, you will be
overly optimistic if you try to cast fireballs and expect them to be effective
in the water realm. I saw quite a bit of the fire and water realms, and I must
say that the graphics were excellent. The view was presented as an oblique
overhead, but remained fairly close to the ground. The characters were twice
the size of those in ULTIMA VI, and they showed a lot of painstaking details.
Supporting only 256-color VGA, the artists really made good use of the entire
palette. Each screen was like a beautiful painting, with lush landscapes and
realistic figures.
The game is full of animation. Everything from the movements of all the
characters to flowing water in a river are smoothly rendered. But what really
stole the show for me were the many unique magical effects. You see, in this
game, you don't just cast a spell and then read about what happens. You get to
see the full results of all of your spells, complete with digitized sounds
effects. The game did not have all the effects finished at the time of the
demo, but I was _really_ impressed at what had been achieved so far. My jaw
must have dropped a foot when they showed me the effect of the rock spell. You
just have to try it and see for yourself.
For the CRPG fan, this game has a complete plot, a main quest, and various
side missions important to the story. For the strategy/war game fan, the
program boasts individual AI for each evil wizard with full movement controls
allowed in combat. Although magic is the main attraction here, other physical
weapons are available and they do have certain advantages that will justify
their use. Finally, simulation fans should not feel left out. Concocting
various spell potions and deriving formulas for new spells promise to be an
enchanting experience. Mike mentioned that he might decide to bury an Easter
Egg or two in there as well.
Karl told me that they expect the game to be released around Thanksgiving. It
will support 256 VGA _only_ and all major sound cards. Memory requirement will
be somewhere between 450K to 580K and expanded memory will be utilized, if
available. A fast machine (>10MHz) is recommended to do justice to all the
special effects in this game. Please note that all these hardware data are
subject to change as the game is being further developed.
I consider myself a fairly experienced player in adventures and CRPGs. I am
not easily impressed by dazzling graphics and clever sound effects. But what I
saw of this game really blew my socks off. While I was there, I also saw a
self-running demo which they had used at CES. Of course, I immediately
encouraged Karl and Mike to upload it to GAMPUB. Folks, take a look at this
demo when it becomes available. You will _not_ be disappointed!